let's stop running from our ghosts (they're haunting me)
by night.air55
Summary: In which Kakashi can't stop thinking about his ghosts and Naruto can't stop seeing them.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Kakashi's fighting for the slim chance of one day seeing their hopes and dreams come true because that's the only way he can make up for his mistakes—_he couldn't save any of them and the guilt is tearing him apart_—it's the only way he knows how to. (In which Kakashi can't stop thinking about his ghosts and Naruto can't stop seeing them.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does.

* * *

_let's stop running from our ghosts (they're haunting me)_

_Chapter One_

Kakashi's aware of the boy's approach long before he hears the soft scuff of dirt and small, shuffling footsteps behind him.

He's just recently come back from a mission that's taken him out of the village for a month to find that the Hokage has decided to try to give yet another genin team to him. He's failed the last few teams because he refuses to pass anyone who doesn't understand the concept of teamwork; it broke his own genin team—Obito first, then Rin, and even Minato-sensei—and left him the sole survivor to pick up the pieces.

(Years later, and Kakashi still doesn't feel whole.)

He's not entirely sure why the Hokage has decided that _Kakashi_ of all people should get the opportunity to teach impressionable young brats but it's not like he can refuse. Rin would have been better at this, he knows. She was kind and empathetic and understood people on a level that Kakashi never has—and it's not for lack of trying. Honestly, anyone would have been a better choice than him, even Obito, with his perpetual lateness and his scatterbrained qualities.

But instead of them, it's Kakashi standing here, mourning the ghosts of his past. He's fighting for the slim chance of one day seeing their hopes and dreams come true because that's the only way he can make up for his mistakes—_he couldn't save any of them and the guilt is tearing him apart_—it's the only way he knows how to.

Today, it's graduation day at the Academy and Kakashi chooses to visit Rin at the village's cemetery instead of his usual trip to the Memorial Stone because it's her guidance he needs right now. He stands alone for an hour before he picks up a familiar scent in the air and has to tamp down the immediate instinct to flee.

It's Minato and Kushina's son.

Kakashi could recognize Naruto's scent anywhere, despite the fact that he's never once talked to the boy outside of his ANBU persona, and even then, Naruto would have been too young to remember it. He had watched the boy for years under the strict orders of the Hokage not to interfere unless it was a life or death situation. At that point, it was easy for Kakashi to convince himself that he was just following orders—he could ignore the voice the back of his mind asking, _what would Minato-sensei and Kushina say?_ By the time he leaves the ANBU ranks, it's too easy to default to ignoring Naruto (he tells himself it's less painful too, but that's just another one of his lies).

The soft footsteps of a child draw closer and Kakashi still doesn't move. He's not sure what's holding him here—if he truly believed in spirits of the afterlife, he would swear it was Rin—but whatever it is, it's not letting him go.

Kakashi's back is facing the entrance and he doesn't dare turn around. Naruto's footsteps stop for a moment as he gets close enough to realize that someone else is at the cemetery, but then he continues forward. His steps are slow but certain, and Kakashi wonders if the boy visits the cemetery often. _Who would he be here for?_ he wonders. It can't be his parents—the Third decreed _that_ knowledge be an S-ranked secret for Naruto's own protection.

Just at the edge of Kakashi's vision, Naruto stops again. Kakashi can make out a sliver of bright blond hair and suddenly there's something heavy and painful gripping at his chest, pushing down on his lungs. It gets infinitely harder to breathe as vivid memories of his long-dead sensei write themselves across eyelids that he doesn't remember closing.

Naruto's still not moving. Kakashi forces his lungs to expand and opens his eye to face the boy because he's a goddamn shinobi with twenty years of experience under his belt and has faced down worse things than an eleven-year-old Academy kid (_it shouldn't be this hard)_.

Said kid blinks up at him with wide cerulean eyes. There's a breathless moment where they stare at one another without saying anything. It takes another second before Kakashi realizes that Naruto isn't actually staring at _him_ but is focused on something slightly over his shoulder. It's tempting to glance over and follow Naruto's gaze but Kakashi's absolutely certain there's no one else except them in the cemetery; it's highly unlikely that something even Naruto noticed would get past his own heightened senses. "It's rude to stare, you know," Kakashi says instead.

Naruto's gaze snaps to meet Kakashi's and he adopts an affronted look. "Who says I was staring at you?" he retorts loudly, crossing his arms.

Kakashi just raises an eyebrow. He's about to ask _then what were you staring at?_ when Naruto's eyes slide off Kakashi's face and back to whatever he was looking at before. Kakashi frowns, a little concerned, and surreptitiously glances over his shoulder. As expected, there's only more gravestones and trees.

Naruto's face, when Kakashi turns back, is a mix of confusion, awe, and delight. Kakashi knows that Naruto is very popular in Konoha among civilians and ninja alike for his ridiculous pranks, but he's always been an expressive person and this definitely doesn't seem like a prank to Kakashi. It makes his concern grow because although he's been actively avoiding Naruto, the boy is still Minato and Kushina's son and Kakashi can't _not_ care about him.

"Are you...okay?" he asks awkwardly.

Naruto blinks rapidly, and his eyes focus on Kakashi again. He laughs a little, scratching the back of his head, but it's strained and obviously forced. "Uh, yeah, totally fine." Kakashi narrows his eye. Naruto fidgets under the scrutiny for a moment before clearly steeling himself for something. He raises his chin high. "Can I ask you a question, shinobi-san?"

Kakashi is suddenly sorely tempted to pull out his most recent copy of Icha Icha because he really doesn't know how to deal with children in a way that doesn't include _fleeing at the first opportunity_—and he's already failed that—but restrains himself. After all, reading that kind of book at the cemetery is rather bad taste (and he can just imagine Rin's reaction). "Sure," he replies, "just make it quick, kid."

Naruto huffs out a breath. "Did you know the Yondaime?"

Kakashi stares because that was not what he was expecting. At all. "What."

Naruto scowls and repeats his question, a little louder this time.

"...Yes, I know him," Kakashi hedges. "Everyone my age did—he was our Hokage, after all. Why do you ask?" The question initially took him by surprise, but it wouldn't be unreasonable that the kid was just curious about past Hokages. Maybe he just thought that Kakashi was old enough to have actually met Minato. It could just be a coincidence….

"No, I meant personally," Naruto stubbornly insists. "You were close to him, weren't you?"

Kakashi unfreezes and straightens from his usual slouch. The boy's slightly annoyed gaze turns into something a little warier because while Kakashi is good at acting pretty laid back, he has a reputation as a famed Konoha nin for a reason. Most people in the village know that Kakashi was Minato's student but _Naruto_ of all people should definitely not know and if someone told the kid about his parents the Hokage was going to have to get involved. "Who told you that?" he asks, serious but gentle because he doesn't want to scare the kid.

Naruto looks a little panicked by the question which is decidedly _not good_.

"Look, kid, I'm not trying to get you or your friend into trouble but—"

"No one told me."

Kakashi presses because this is _important_. "The person who told you might be dangerous—"

"_No one told me!_"

Kakashi definitely does not believe a word he's saying but sighs and nods as if he does. "Alright," he relents because he's obviously not going to get any information that way; Naruto might have Minato's looks but the stubbornness is all Kushina. Thinking about them just sends a sharp pain through Kakashi's chest and he shoves the all-too-familiar feeling away. "Then how did you figure it out?"

Naruto pouts. "You're not going to believe me."

Kakashi crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow because throughout his career as a field shinobi he's seen some pretty weird things. It will take a lot to surprise him. "Try me," he encourages.

Naruto squints up at him for a long second. Kakashi keeps his body language open but expectant. Naruto apparently decides that Kakashi can be trusted—and isn't _that_ a wild thought—because he grins mischievously and points behind Kakashi at Rin's gravestone. "I can see dead people," he declares.

And..._what._

"You...can see dead people," Kakashi repeats blankly.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Naruto complains. "I'll prove it to you!" He skips forward a couple of steps closer to Rin's grave. "You're visiting her, right? She's got brown hair and purple markings on her cheeks like this." He proceeds to drag his fingers diagonally across his cheeks, following his own whisker marks. This is information that Naruto definitely _should not know._

Kakashi suddenly finds it harder to breathe.

"And she's got brown eyes….and—" Naruto continues his descriptions, but it sounds almost muffled like he's suddenly far away even though Kakashi's sure he hasn't moved. His heart is pounding hard in his ears and his vision has narrowed to a single point—Rin's grave. Naruto is pointing directly to something right above the stone itself but to Kakashi, there's nothing there.

And yet, for some reason, he _believes _Naruto.

_Naruto can see ghosts_ is running through Kakashi's mind on repeat, and he can't _stop_ thinking about it. _Rin's spirit is here_ is his second thought and suddenly he can't stand to be there any longer. She _knows_, and that means Obito must know and probably Sensei too because Kakashi's just that unlucky. They've been watching him grieve for all of these years and while he had hoped they had been watching over him it's a different thing entirely to actually _know_ it.

They've seen exactly how _broken_ Kakashi still is, even years after their deaths and he can't bear the thought of facing them.

_You're a coward_, his mind hisses at him but that doesn't stop him.

Kakashi shushins away, leaving Naruto alone among a sea of graves.


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: Kakashi's fighting for the slim chance of one day seeing their hopes and dreams come true because that's the only way he can make up for his mistakes—_he couldn't save any of them and the guilt is tearing him apart_—it's the only way he knows how to. (In which Kakashi can't stop thinking about his ghosts and Naruto can't stop seeing them.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does.

* * *

_let's stop running from our ghosts (they're haunting_ me)

_Chapter Two_

So maybe telling the man with the weird, fluffy gray hair and one eye was a mistake. Naruto hasn't directly told anyone about his..._ability_ before, but anytime he's even hinted at it, people just call him crazy. Then again, those are the same villagers who shout insults at him on a daily basis anyway, so they're not exactly good examples.

Naruto was sure that the gray-haired shinobi wouldn't believe him—no one else has, after all—and had been completely prepared to give a long-winded lecture that would even rival Iruka-sensei's. But before he could really get going the man had suddenly gone three shades paler and disappeared.

No explanation, no warning—he was just there one moment and gone the next. The only thing that indicated that he wasn't a ghost himself was a handful of scattered leaves that were left behind.

And he hadn't even answered Naruto's question! How _rude._

The images of two out of the three ghosts Naruto has been staring at rapidly grow fainter with the disappearance of the gray-haired shinobi. To his surprise, however, the younger girl—Rin, according to her gravestone—remains. As far as Naruto has observed, ghosts normally fade when not in the presence of a living loved one. And yet...

"Hey, hey, do you know that guy?" Naruto demands, taking the opportunity to bounce closer to the slightly transparent spirit. Her gaze is downcast, expression a bit forlorn and lost, and Naruto would feel bad about interrupting the shinobi's grieving period—he's usually more respectful, he swears—but he still has a lot of _questions_.

Nothing ever really prepares someone for seeing the _Yondaime Hokage_ in person after all, regardless of the fact that the hero of Konoha is now a ghost.

Rin turns, her soft brown eyes growing large with surprise as Naruto approaches. She smiles, but it's small and half-hearted. "You really can see me, then."

Naruto nods enthusiastically. A lot of the dead prefer to completely ignore him, even if he tries to interact with them directly. He can hear them too if he really concentrates, but it's hard to focus on more than one ghost at a time; more often than not, Naruto prefers to just let their voices fade into the background. It isn't often that he comes across someone who actually wants to speak with him, anyway.

"Yeah, 'course I can! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Who are you?"

"My name is Nohara Rin. It's nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san." She almost reaches out a hand, as if to shake Naruto's, but quickly aborts the movement. "Ah, sorry, it's just been so long since I've talked to someone like you."

Naruto grins brightly. "Don't worry! And just call me Naruto!" He doesn't think anyone has ever called him 'Uzumaki-san' before. It's polite, but overly so, and it just sounds sort of weird.

The smile he gets in return is much livelier and warmer than before. "You can call me Rin, then. Naruto-san, if you don't mind me asking, could you do a favor for me? It has to do with the man who you were talking to before."

Naruto automatically wrinkles his nose. He wants to play a rather nasty prank on the one-eyed shinobi for _leaving him at the cemetery_ (even if he did meet a nice ghost) but there's a part of him that also wants to apologize to the man; he had looked almost _afraid_ when Naruto told him about his ability. And when he had left, it was like he had been running away from something.

Either way, Naruto needs to find him again.

"Okay," he agrees, a little reluctantly.

Half an hour later, Naruto leaves the cemetery, clutching the letter that Rin had directed him to write with the promise that he will work on his handwriting because apparently '_it's terrifyingly illegible_'. Naruto doesn't even understand half of the words he wrote, but he promised to give it to the gray-haired man (Kakashi) and he doesn't go back on his word.

Squinting up at the sky, Naruto watches as the last remnants of the sun's rays illuminate the village rooftops in a brilliant pink-yellow glow. His eyes catch on the familiar Hokage faces on the mountain overlooking Konoha.

The Yondaime's face stares back.

It looks a bit odd to Naruto, now that he's actually seen Namikaze Minato himself, albeit in ghostly form; the sculpture almost pales in comparison.

Naruto hadn't even recognized the man at first when the Yondaime's spirit appeared beside Kakashi in the cemetery. Naruto's been actively working on his skill ignoring the dead, ever since he started seeing them less than a year ago. While they're surprisingly rather transparent and thus, easy to distinguish, Naruto has a bad tendency to startle if he's not paying attention to them. And he doesn't want to be constantly jumping at what seems to be nothing because that's what attracts _bad_ attention; he can get away with playing pranks, but he definitely can't achieve his dream as Hokage if people think he's not entirely sane.

Naruto had nearly walked past Kakashi and his ghosts when the Yondaime, who was standing beside a redheaded woman Naruto didn't recognize, stepped out from behind Kakashi.

Glancing up, Naruto had been shocked into silence.

And more surprising than seeing the man who died saving the village from the Kyuubi standing six feet away from him was that he _smiled_ at Naruto. It was the first time a ghost had initiated anything—Naruto normally has to make first contact if he wants a response and even then, it's not guaranteed. But the Yondaime had grinned brightly at Naruto, blue eyes sparkling as if he had seen something that had truly delighted him.

As if he actually saw Naruto and not through him, the way so many people in the village do. As if he actually _recognized _who Naruto was. Naruto doesn't even get smiles from the _living_, much less the dead.

It was enrapturing—the sheer depth of the joy that Naruto could almost physically feel radiating from the other blond.

Kakashi's sharp question had distracted him for a short while, but Naruto had quickly felt his attention waver as the woman stepped forward, her long, red hair flowing like waves behind her. Her expression was gentle and full of warmth, affection bleeding into her features in such a way that Naruto had to consciously restrain himself from leaping into her arms, even though he knew he would only pass right through her.

The two ghosts didn't say anything to Naruto, but they didn't have to—he could read everything just from their expressions. The pure happiness from even that small interaction blossomed warm in his heart, sweeping through his entire body until he was literally bursting with it.

There was nothing in the world that could have stopped him from asking Kakashi about the Yondaime. Surely, this shinobi who was so precious to these two wonderful people who _smiled_ at Naruto, could be trusted?

But then, Naruto's always been rather impulsive.

The sky is darkening as Naruto makes his way back to his empty apartment and he decides that he is going to put his full effort into finding Kakashi, even if he has to stop his village-wide pranks for a while. Before he left, Rin had warned him about the difficulty of such a task and suggested that leaving the letter under the door to his apartment, or even with a friend, would be the better course of action.

But Naruto isn't one to give up just because something is challenging. And the man owes him an answer if nothing else.

The very next morning, he gets to work.

* * *

It takes Naruto less than a week of meticulous planning and cleverly set traps—because if he is going full out, he _really means it_—before Kakashi finally relents.

Naruto's pretty sure Kakashi only caved because Naruto's last prank targeted the carefully maintained shelf of colorful books in Kakashi's apartment. It had only taken a single day of following the man to know exactly how much he cares about them—to the point where he carries a copy _everywhere._

Naruto sets an impressive number of traps in Kakashi's apartment and then casually waits on a bench a fair distance away.

Kakashi shows up in front of Naruto not even an hour later.

He appears as suddenly as he had left that time in the cemetery, startling Naruto into nearly falling off the bench. He scrambles to right himself, glancing up just in time to note the absence of a particular pair of ghosts before Kakashi leans forward far enough to take up his entire vision.

"Alright, what do you want, you brat?" Kakashi growls, using his height advantage to loom over Naruto like a particularly dark, thundering cloud on an otherwise sunny day.

Naruto refuses to be intimidated and instead puffs up with pride, a wide grin stretching across his face. Despite the surprising lack of glitter or paint on the shinobi, Naruto counts this as a successful prank; his goal was to get Kakashi to come to him in the first place as it's quite obvious Naruto can't physically catch Kakashi and make him talk. The fact that he's here now means that Naruto can claim his victory. "Aha! I finally got you!" He shouts, leaping to his feet.

There's a moment's pause before Kakashi leans back and shifts into a nonthreatening slouch. The sudden disappearance of the menacing aura makes Naruto blink. "Did you?" Kakashi drawls in a noncommittal manner. A rather familiar bright orange book materializes in his right hand and he hums to himself as he flips it open and proceeds to start reading it.

Naruto gapes because outside of the less destructive glitter and paint bombs, he had also set some _very mild_ explosives on a particular bookcase, taking care to limit the power because Naruto didn't want to actually burn the entire apartment building down. And he was sure he heard some of the traps going off….

"Maa, while I'm impressed by your ingenuity, you left your tripwires in plain sight. If you're looking to actually 'get me', you'll have to up your game." Kakashi's eye curves up in what Naruto assumes is a smile, but it's kind of hard to tell under the dark mask covering half his face. "I have to admit, I'm actually a little disappointed."

And—_hey._

Naruto will admit that he's not the best student in the Academy. Actually, he's pretty much the worst, with the only competition in his class being Nara Shikamaru who's too lazy to even _try_. Most of Naruto's ninja skills are below average and just thinking about written tests gives him shivers. The one thing Naruto _is _good at is pranking and he's spent a significant amount of time perfecting his craft—to the probable horror of everyone in the village. He's acquired a certain reputation that he's rather proud of and it's _irritating_ that Kakashi is just writing him off.

In fact, those visible tripwires had been intentional on his part. With the last couple days of pranking, Kakashi would be on guard anyway so Naruto was careful with his placement. Most of the traps were not particularly hidden—like that one he had placed in the doorway because what kind of respectable ninja would fall for something like _that_—but there were a select few designed for stealth. The others were there for distraction, really, and he had placed enough that while they might be easy for an experienced shinobi to avoid, they would still be a pain to disarm.

And of course, the best part was the wired triggers to a particular bookcase. Not _really _enough power to actually harm anything, but just…something to make Kakashi a little nervous, perhaps.

(Okay, so Naruto might have added a little more than what was necessary. But he did take a look at some of those books when he was setting things up and—well. They deserved a little scorching.)

All in all, Naruto is pretty sure it's one of the best pranks he's done. And he's caught _ANBU _members with some of the more particularly spontaneous ones_._ Furthermore, there were definitely noises coming from the apartment..._so why…?_

Something at the corner of Naruto's eye draws his attention.

Icha Icha is tilted in a way that almost hides the strange mark from Naruto's line of sight, but with how orange the cover is, on a second glance there is definitely something oddly dark at the edge of the book.

Naruto cocks his head to the side and leans a little closer to see better, but Kakashi shifts at the same time, stepping backward in motion smooth enough to seem completely natural. It's only because Naruto is _looking_ for it that he makes out a very faint sparkle from the cover.

_Wait a moment._

"You're totally lying!" Naruto accuses, pointing a hand directly at the gray-haired shinobi's face.

Kakashi blinks slowly and then shrugs. The book mysteriously vanishes into one of his many pockets. "Okay, you caught me," he says with the same inflection as he might have used to comment on the weather.

It is infuriating how _utterly unsatisfied_ Naruto feels.

He crosses his arms. "Well, now you owe me an answer to my question!"

Kakashi shoves his hands into his pockets, shoulders drawing forward lazily, and eye-smiles. "What question would that be again?" he asks cheerily.

Naruto is definitely going to have to plan a more severe fate for those stupid books because he's convinced that they've melted Kakashi's brain. He's opening his mouth to yell at this man he's wasted almost a week's worth of his time on—_how can he possibly be a ninja?_—when a sudden realization hits him.

There's something...odd about this entire conversation.

Naruto hadn't really noticed before because he'd been so caught up in the giddiness of his _successful prank_—and yet. The more he thinks about it, the more he's sure. Kakashi's acting _strange._

Granted, the fact that Naruto and Kakashi met in a cemetery, surrounded by the dead, might have something to do with it. But then, Naruto's gut instincts don't normally steer him wrong. And he's sure that there's something not right about the way Kakashi's behaving—almost as if Kakashi's hiding something that he's trying desperately not to let anyone else see. Kakashi's covered it up so thoroughly because it's something even _he_ doesn't want to deal with.

When Naruto had met Kakashi at Rin's grave, the man had seemed much quieter and more serious. Somber, even. He's almost the complete opposite now—smiling and teasing Naruto, _provoking him._

_He's been playing me,_ Naruto realizes, _to make me angry and distracted enough that I'll forget why I was even looking for him in the first place._ But...why?

Kakashi had disappeared when Naruto had revealed the ghost situation. There's something about the Yondaime and Rin—or their ghosts—that Kakashi doesn't want to face. He must have confronted Naruto to stop his pranks and once he was thoroughly distracted, Kakashi would have probably taken off. Again.

_Damn it,_ Naruto thinks. _And it almost worked too._

Kakashi's still staring at him, but his gaze has become colder and more calculating. Naruto feels _caught_ in a way that makes shivers roll down his spine. He looks helplessly back into the single, half-lidded eye.

And that's when two familiar ghosts appear right behind him.

* * *

With how bad his luck seems to be, Kakashi's convinced the gods are out to get him. Or maybe they're just vengeful spirits. He's not really sure which one he'd prefer.

Kakashi was so close to putting the entire incident behind him, too; Naruto's pranks were surprising, but not unexpected, and were entirely manageable. But he underestimated the kid and Naruto had taken full advantage of it.

Kakashi is undoubtedly grateful for the fact that he owns multiple copies of the Icha Icha series—despite his best efforts, his poor books go through a lot of wear and tear. He'll never admit it, but Naruto did actually manage to scorch the collection on his bookshelf. Naruto's not cruel though, however much he likes pranks, and the actual pages of Kakashi's books remain unharmed—which speaks to an impressive attention to detail.

The more Naruto is exposed to those books, however, the more likely he'll decide that _yes, the Icha Icha series does deserve to be entirely destroyed_, and Kakashi preemptively decides to confront the kid before the pranking goes any further.

He braces himself for Naruto to immediately point out the spirits that may or may not be following Kakashi everywhere, but Naruto doesn't even mention them. It's easy to use that opportunity to steer the conversation in another direction and distract Naruto so that Kakashi can safely leave the conversation and never have to confront his ghosts. As a bonus, he'll leave in an entirely more dignified manner this time around.

As soon as Naruto's focus wavers to something behind him, though, Kakashi's stomach _drops_. His shoulders tense involuntarily and his hands curl into fists, nails biting into the flesh of his palms, even though his gloves. Kakashi might not be able to see ghosts, but now that he knows they're standing next to him, he swears he can almost _feel_ their presence in the faintly cool air shifting around him. It's a distinctly uncomfortable feeling.

Naruto's eyes are wide with disbelief, but he has a bright grin stretching across his face, unlike his expression nearly a week ago in the cemetery. "Yondaime-sama," he breathes almost reverently.

Kakashi squeezes his eye shut, even though he knows it won't make a difference. He hears the one-sided conversation Naruto is having with Minato—_his father_—but barely processes the words being said. The rational part of Kakashi's mind says that he should probably inform the Hokage that Naruto is about to learn the truth of his parentage but the other part—the one still struggling to stay afloat amid an ocean of grief—tells him that Naruto _needs this_.

He's an eleven-year-old boy who never knew his parents, and yet still suffers from their choices every day. The citizens of Konoha are scared, and while Kakashi understands their fear—can sympathize with it because he _remembers_ the Kyuubi attack and the devastating aftermath—that doesn't excuse their actions towards Naruto. If they even bothered to truly look, they would see how much potential the boy has—how determined and joyful and undaunted he is, in spite of the treatment he faces.

Kakashi is guilty of it too because looking at Naruto reminds him of things he's tried for years to forget. He looks at Naruto and imagines similar features set onto two different faces, sees Minato-sensei's subtle genius, Kushina's reckless passion, and _regrets_.

But...it's time to move on, isn't it?

(They're watching and Kakashi wants to make them _proud_.)

Naruto deserves to be able to talk to his parents. Kakashi refuses to be the person to take that away from him.

So he stands there, ignoring his heart pounding in his chest and the cramps in his fingers from clenching too tightly. He stands and endures, breathing through the white-hot burn of discomfort and _shame_—because this is something he should have done years ago—racing through his veins, underneath his skin. It feels like penance. It feels like a cleansing (and it's something that Kakashi _needs _too, just as much as Naruto).

It's a long while until Naruto speaks directly to Kakashi. Kakashi opens his eye slowly to see Naruto's whiskered face and intent blue gaze. The kid's signature smile is present, but subdued, almost gentle. It's a lot more genuine, Kakashi thinks, and it means a lot seeing it from Naruto, even after talking with his parents—because somewhere in the conversation, he had definitely heard '_Kaa-chan_'—and knowing Kakashi's relation to him.

"Tou-chan says that you were watching over me as a child," Naruto tells him, eyes sparkling. He's bouncing around so much that Kakashi's almost worried he'll fall off the bench.

"Kind of," Kakashi hesitantly admits, because it had been a job assigned by the Hokage, and he's not entirely sure he would have done it otherwise.

"Thank you, Kakashi-niichan!"

Even if Kakashi wasn't shocked still by the familiar term, he doesn't think he could have avoided Naruto's sudden reach for him. The boy's small hands grip Kakashi's shoulders and pull him closer, sliding around his neck into a tight hug. Naruto might be small, but he radiates warmth like a furnace and Kakashi tenses but can't help relaxing into it after a moment. It's at an awkward angle because Naruto is standing on the bench but is still a little shorter than Kakashi, and he awkwardly pats Naruto's head.

Kakashi doesn't remember the last time someone really hugged him. Gai might have given him a sharp squeeze here or there, but those were more likely to break his ribs than give him any comfort. Naruto's is welcoming and warm, familial almost, and Kakashi's traitorous brain promptly informs him that although he doesn't have any blood family left, Naruto is as good as. Sensei and Kushina were like older siblings, and although Kakashi has a good group of friends, they're not _family_. But…Naruto is.

Kakashi may need a couple of years to make up for his absence in Naruto's childhood but—maybe he can allow himself this.

In the face of Naruto's brilliant smile and ceaseless spirit, everything seems possible.


End file.
